Yes, I am having this same issue. I have rebooted and tried multiple times tonight to update apps, but the downloads just never happen. I guess it could be related to a ton of people downloading Lion all day today, but I'm thinking there is a weird bug in 10.4. I guess we will see what happens. Hopefully Apple will get on this asap.

The divide between users who like and dislike iTunes is very interesting to me, and I wish I could explain it somehow. When some posters here say they are having problems with iTunes on Mac and/or PC, or even that they hate iTunes, I take them at their word.
Conversely, in my experience using iTunes on no less than 6 Macs over the years (both mine and my wife's) we have never had an issue with iTunes. Not at all. It has never caused our Macs to freeze up, and I think...

I don't whine about anything really, except when my wife keeps turning the thermostat up to save money while I am sweating. And even then, it's not so much a whine as a grumble.
As for your comment, when another poster led me to believe the price was the same without an optical drive, I was disappointed. Of course now I am aware that the price dropped $100, which is the right thing to do. Had Apple removed a major component and the price had stayed the same, then this...

Here is a much easier suggestion...
Instead of this student being forced to buy another computer that has a DVD drive, or purchasing the Apple external Superdrive, or having to borrow a computer or optical drive from a friend...why doesn't he or she just use the DVD player connected to their TV?
I don't know anyone who doesn't have a DVD player and/or game console in their living room on which they can watch DVDs. I doubt these players are going anywhere. You can argue...

Hmmm, sadly this is a very good point. Unless they crammed something equally valuable inside, the price should have come down a bit. So for those who do not opt for a second internal HDD or SDD, what is going to be in that space?EDIT: Nevermind. Someone explained there was a price drop, so that's cool. I guess I don't pay enough attention to some of Apple's products/pricing like I should.

I wasn't even aware of better bluetooth specifications besides the 2.1 + EDR, so this is good. I wonder if Apple could be putting this in the iPhone 5? Does anyone know if the chip is the same size so that it would fit?

I am very on board with this move. It was past it's prime and stuck out like a sore thumb. It didn't at all fit with the rest of Apple's products.
I think some people feel confused because going forward the White MacBook could have distinguished itself as one of the few, if not the only, Apple laptop with an optical drive. What these people should realize is that Apple is clearly moving to a streaming disk-less paradigm, and wants to eliminate optical drives altogether.

Not completely. Only for those who rely heavily on playing DVDs. I think the number of people wanting to play actual DVDs is getting smaller by the day. I think the majority either watch from ripped content, or what they can stream from Netflix, Hulu, and other online sources.
You might argue it also ruins it for those who want to play BluRay disks, but of course Apple has never shown interest in joining that party. I could see them maybe Maybe adding BluRay support...

Exactly. I have had my aluminum MacBook since November 2008, and I can recall using the optical drive maybe 2-3 times since then. Once was to run disk utility on my HD, which is no longer needed with Lion's recovery mode. And I think I may have ripped a CD. Other than this, I haven't needed it at all. I wish this space were for more battery capacity or for an SSD or something.